


promised

by syncopate (orphan_account)



Category: SHINee
Genre: Happy ending though, I Don't Even Know, I would say sorry, M/M, Romance-ish, but also angst-ish, except i'm really not, the muse is alive yall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-06
Updated: 2017-03-06
Packaged: 2018-09-28 17:03:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10140635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/syncopate
Summary: kibum likes the beach in winter, it reminds him of happier times.





	

"You're going to the beach in winter?" Minho's tone of voice is nearing incredulous but still mostly amused. "Isn't it cold enough here on land?" 

 

"I used to go very often, I'd have you know," Kibum says back, serenely.

 

"Yeah, but that was before…" Minho's words catch in his throat at the sharp look Kibum casts him, and he decides -- shrewdly, in Kibum's opinion -- not to finish the sentence.

 

Shrugging his shoulders in forced nonchalance, Kibum says, "Well, I thought it was time I tried again. So I'm going on a picnic."

 

"By yourself. On a beach. In winter," Minho supplies.

 

"Yes," Kibum agrees. He smiles again, and Minho smiles back slowly, and even if it's half-exasperated and sad, he doesn't say much more to Kibum.

 

~-~

 

It's quiet and chilly when Kibum gets there and his breath forms clouds of white that hang gingerly in the air. The silence feels like it's hiding secrets, or dreams, oppressive with anticipation. Or maybe that's just the way Kibum feels, he with his own endlessly hopeful waiting. He spreads out the picnic mat; sushi, fruit juice, candy, chocolate, cupcakes.

 

"That's a weird assortment," Minho had said, but Kibum hadn't really given him a response. There are reasons for food, he thinks. There are reasons for everything.

 

He wonders why winter doesn't freeze the sea, if the persistent movement makes it impossible, the air not able to slow it down enough. He wonders if maybe he just stood still here, stops all  _ his _ movement,  _ he'd _ freeze, turn into an iceberg that will float gently on the ocean's surface. It's cold; and his skin prickles in retaliation, little goosebumps of protest, and maybe he should leave, go back to warmth, go back to life. But the silence makes him want to stay. Here he can think, of what he's lost, of what he misses, of what the sea brings with it, what the gentle lapping waves remind him of. 

 

Childish laughter and easy excitement, velvet voice singing lullabies and love songs, sharing dreams and terrors, telling secrets, making up fantasies, and falling in love, too quick, too sudden, like plunging into the ice-cold sea and losing all ability to breathe. A date promised; this day, this time, and hope, winding like a python around his chest, like broken china pressing into his skin. Hope is lethal, and he guesses, so is love.

 

The day fades away, inevitable, unstoppable, the sun dimming into a red-pink splash across the sky. Kibum wonders if it's reluctant to leave every night, if it doesn't want to relinquish its spot to the moon, to its dark beauty and its shadows. Reluctant the same way Kibum is now. Someone once likened the moon to a distant, emotionless lover, someone once told him it was a distance that couldn't be breached. 

 

He watches the moonlight that now glides across the surface of the water, reflective like a mirror, showing him things he doesn't want to believe in. And he thinks maybe that the distance between the moon and the sea isn't the only distance that cannot be breached.

 

The food is still uneaten, packed in anticipation for another's lips, meant for another's consumption, and as he packs them back into the basket, he thinks of throwing them away, along with his heart, his now broken, so silly heart. He can feel the tears building up, and they spill over before he can stop their flow and he lets the cupcakes fall from his hands and covers his face, letting himself cry for the first time in 16 long months.

 

The touch on his shoulders is unexpected, and so is the voice, familiar and yet so strange. "Why are you crying?" Kibum sucks in a breath and looks up, and illuminated by the glow of white moonlight is a boy he told himself he would never see again. "I'm sorry I'm late," the boy whispers. Kibum doesn't reply, instead he throws himself at the boy, pushing at him until they are both lying flat on the sand. He is still crying, but the tears have lost their melancholy.

 

"You really have legs," Kibum observes tearfully. "You aren't 'Jonghyun my mermaid boy' anymore." 

 

"Merman, the term is merman," Jonghyun says, but his words have no bite. "Yeah, the witch did a good job huh? Except first I had to work for them for--"

 

"16 months, 13 days and almost 19 hours," Kibum finishes his sentence. He looks up at Jonghyun, and the sheen of tears still lingering in his eyes turns Jonghyun misty, like a blurred, half-remembered dream.

 

"I'm here now," Jonghyun murmurs. "And I'm not going anywhere." He slings arms around Kibum's waist and pulls him in, mouthing nonsense words into his neck. 

 

"You're shorter than me like this," Kibum mutters, gripping at Jonghyun's back. He still smells like salt. There is so much happiness in Kibum's chest and under his tongue and there's nothing he knows to say that will express it. But he wants to babble nonsense anyway just to try.

 

Jonghyun laughs softly, and presses a kiss to Kibum's throat. 

 

Kibum closes his eyes when their lips meet and thinks maybe love isn't lethal after all, that maybe hope is a promise.

 

~-~

 

("Can we eat the food now?"

 

"It's all gross, you were late."

 

"I don't care. Hey, you brought my favourite chocolate!"

 

"Child."

 

"Your child."

 

"Ew."

 

"I missed you."

 

"I missed you too.")

**Author's Note:**

> me: /sees tweet about jongkey fluffy winter beach dates  
> me: aww that's so cute i should write something like that  
> me: /writes this
> 
> :D? i'm ridiculous. 
> 
> also can you tell i love HAH I BET YOU DIDN'T REALISE IT WAS SUPERNATURAL kinda fic xP  
> my muse is awake and kicking i'm a very confused writer
> 
> i'm sorry times infinity.


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